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frame grabbers

February 25, 2008

in the intro class we are spending the next three weeks building short, basic animations. one option for students is stop-motion. even though stop-motion is a very basic technique, it continues to be used by artists in innovative and poetic ways. there are tons of examples on you tube like this one. i also thought this one was particularly brilliant when i saw it.i like stop motion for students making their first animation because it provides a method for understanding how to create the passage of time using 2d images. there is a great resource for stop motion here.

of course students can also animate with the usual suspects like illustrator, photoshop and flash. one of my faves using basic flash techniques is the work of heavy industries. animation, like most digital media, can be overwhelming simply because of all the possible choices. a recent issue of artkrush focuses on how contemporary artists are using animation. this issue reveals both the conceptual nature of animation in contemporary art practices, but also the variety of approaches. one of these is options takes advantage of the ubiquitous nature of animation in contemporary digital culture by turning animated moments into readymades. for example, take a look at this great project that uses video games.